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Is 'Justified's' Boyd Crowder The New Walter White?

“After everything my fiancé and I have been though, I got to say, today, I’m in a pretty good mood,” beamed Boyd Crowder midway through “All Shot to Hell,” the fifth episode of the fifth season of Justified on the FX Network. (Spoiler alert up to episode 505 of Justified, and all of Breaking Bad.)

And why not? Crowder seemed to be on the verge of making a preposterously large pile of problems disappear.

Lee Paxton (to paraphrase Boyd about Paxton’s fate): “The people of Harlan County, rich and poor, will marvel at his debasement and venality and take his suicide as the last act of a coward because a small town never forgets.”

Sheriff Nick Mooney: “He got what he had coming to him.” (Something poetic about Boyd recruiting Hayes Workman who’s dying from Black Lung, to do the deed on Mooney, in exchange for giving his wife and sons “enough money to give them a leg up in this life.”)

Mrs. Mara Paxton: “She walks away from Harlan County with more than nothing.”

It’s a strangely satisfying moment, because, despite the body count—Boyd punched the ticket an upstanding businessman, offed a law enforcement officer, and a threatened a woman with the same–we’re still rooting for Boyd, even as he takes a page from Michael Corleone’s playbook and settles (almost) all family business in a few minutes of screen time.

Why are we on his side? That’s because over the course of four seasons, Boyd Crowder, as played by the brilliant Walton Goggins, has become perhaps the most multifaceted—and appealing—antihero on television this side of Breaking Bad’s Walter White. On a good week, like this one, Justified is one of television’s best dramas, and one of the most flat-out entertaining ways to spend 47 minutes with your clothes on. And Boyd Crowder is the main reason for that.

Indeed, last season’s best episode of Justified, “Decoy,” was largely a love letter to Boyd. Throughout the episode, Detroit gangster Nicky Augustine, played with charming detachment by Mike O’Malley, plays emcee and reminds us what we love about Harlan’s most infamous outlaw.

“You’re a well dressed man,” Nicky begins, “you’ve got a sense of style.” And that alone goes a long way on television. With his ultra-pearly whites, perpetually untamed hair and a pocket watch sometimes dangling from his vest pocket, Boyd looks sharp, especially by Harlan County standards. But he talks even sharper.

“I love the way you talk, using 40 words when four will do,” Augustine marvels. “I’m gonna need a Google translator on my phone if I’m gonna keep talking to you.”

Crowder revels in the use of the English language more than any television character this side of David Milch’s Deadwood. But unlike Deadwood, where Richardson, the Village Idiot, sounded like he was trained at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Boyd casually calls an interloping Detroit gangster a “Conquistador” while hanging around locals who are struggling to match their subjects to their verbs.

It’s great fun to listen to, and Boyd’s elocution, played to the hilt by Goggins, elevates even the most pedestrian exposition.

But beneath that layer of language, Boyd is whip smart, and that’s the common thread running through all of television’s truly great characters past and present. Sure, it’s fun to watch him read “Of Human Bondage” or quote Asimov while under the threat of death. But he also possesses practical intelligence. Boyd’s brain is working overtime, seeing the board six moves ahead. Except, of course, that Boyd often outsmarts himself, as he did last night, when his plot was foiled by the punk-ass guard who was willing to spite-stab himself just to throw Boyd’s fiance Ava into solitary.

How deeply did this hurt Boyd? So much that the Legged Thesaurus of Harlan County couldn’t summon words to express his pain, beyond “Get off me.” He merely howled in anguish as the guards led him away, primal scream territory. You don’t need to be caught up with Orange is the New Black to realize that this is very bad news for Ava Crowder.

And how can you not love a guy who loves Ava that much? I can’t ever recall two characters revel in using the anachronistic term, “fiancé” they way these two do. They’re hardly a conventional couple—they’ve got matching bullet wounds.—but what they’ve got runs deep. And part of that is a common striving, a way to channel their mutual ambition. In each other, they see the end game, a next generation of Crowders who are fully bona-fide, living on the hill instead of the holler, or maybe even getting out of Harlan alive.

Which brings us to Boyd’s other relationship: the one with Timothy Oliphant’s Raylan Givens. In the last couple of seasons the show runners have smartened up, by allowing Boyd to operate in an orbit that’s largely independent from Raylan.

Sure, they share a scene every episode or so, and that’s great because they have such chemistry. But in this case less is more, and separating them is a smart, long-term move. Raylan’s more charming, and faster on the draw, but Boyd’s smarter and has more skin in the game. And despite their shared history, their respective occupations make them natural enemies. So having them butt heads too often would either push this confrontation to a premature end (Spoiler alert for season two of Boardwalk Empire) like Jimmy Darmody’s story arc on Boardwalk Empire or draw it out artificially, having smart characters act stupid, or at least develop a blind spot when it came to their nemesis (as Hank and Walt did during the middle seasons of Breaking Bad.)

Which brings us back to the question of that body count. Is Boyd a bad guy? He’s certainly a better one. Unlike Walter White, he seems to be on a path toward redemption, even if all of his old methods haven’t been cast aside.

He’s no longer the guy who, in the very first episode, delighted in blowing up a black church with a rocket launcher. Boyd 2.0 has a code that’s, well, more in line with our own. It helps, too, that showrunner Graham Yost and the writers have fallen back on the tried-and-true tactic of pitting Boyd against, as he calls them, “bigger, badder bullies” so we’re happy to excuse some bloodshed in the service of advancing the story. But lest we turn him into Robin Hood, let’s remember that last season Boyd was willing to sacrifice the innocent Ellen May’s life for Ava’s freedom.

But you don’t have to be as smart as Boyd to see that the line of straw men will ultimately end, sooner rather than later. And as Justified draws to a close in its sixth and final season next year, Boyd could see himself faced with choosing between his friendship with Raylan and his love for Ava. But in the twenty or so hours until then, let’s simply revel in Boyd’s style and his eloquence, and the lengths he’ll go to put things right for Ava.

”All Shot to Hell” was full of great moments, and none better than the scene at the diner which was classic Justified. And a career day for Chief Deputy Art Mullen, out maneuvering Wynn Duffy and Picker, backing down Theo Tonin’s hit man, Elias Marcos, then surviving an assault from him and his shotgun machine gun(!). Raylan gets to take Marcos out–and but Art discovers a wounded Theo Tonin, gets a call from Attorney General Eric Holder. Then it’s bourbon, cigars, and back slapping in his office. A last big score as he prepares to stroll off into the sunset of retirement. But we’ve seen this schtick so often The Simpsons parodied it McBain-style.

I’m hoping/expecting that Yost and friends were having a little fun with us–indeed Graham Yost mentions this in his debrief with EW– and that this might lead to a different, richer final act for Art, one in which he realizes Raylan has crossed the line for real.

Justified gets a little better whenever Shameless alum Amy Smart makes an appearance. We saw a different side of her as the pot-smoking social worker in this episode. She may need to blow off steam, and even plant evidence, but she won’t stop at calling Raylan out when he’s using a kid to go after the Crowe thugs.

And speaking of those Crowe Boys, it was great to see Alicia Witt return as Wendy. She’s poised to be the brains behind the Crowe clan (not that that’s hard) and she and her lunatic brothers could be formidable rivals for Raylan and Friends. Witt, I discovered through the magic of Google, is also a singer/songwriter and her boyfriend is Ben Folds. She’s had roles in Friday Night Lights and Law And Order: Criminal Intent, as well as the indie sleeper Cold Turkey. But if you’re like me, you might remember her best from the season 2 The Sopranos episode “D-Girl” in which she plays Jon Favreau’s underling and Christopher’s hotel room fling. Rarely has a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s been put to better use.

What’s your take on Boyd Crowder? On this season of Justified? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Thanks for the comment, Ben. You hit it right on the head. It’s really hard to separate Boyd’s actions from his manner. This is a TV series, so Ellen Mae was spared, but if it were up to Boyd, she’d be buried in some swamp. Like, say, Omar from The Wire, Boyd has a code of sorts, but it’s not inviolable by any means. He doesn’t kill for fun, but sometimes citizens get in the way. Raylan’s the same in this way, for that matter, but that’s another story.

Yeah. I don’t know if Boyd is the next Walter White (mostly because WW is such a different character that it is hard to compare the two) but for the most Loquacious and Elegant Villain – Boyd Crowder is your man.

Glad you liked the story. I think that Boyd and Walter White have a fair bit in common–they’re both tremendously smart, but not quite as smart as they think they are, they’re both capable of doing almost anything for their “families” and masters as rationalizing those acts afterwards. And they’re both constantly changing. First and foremost, they’re appealing and intriguing, so much so that we’re able to look past their evil deeds.

Allen, great article. Goggin’s portrayal of Crowder is fun to watch. My favorite show. I read the review stating the show is inconsistent and the 2nd / 3rd seasons were a train wreck. Guess everyone has an opinion.

The characters are awesome. Get a kick out of seeing Jerry Burns (hi, my name is Kirk) as a ‘bad guy’. Michael Rappaport is a great addition this season.

I have zero complaints about Justified. Well, I have one. Wish it was on 52 weeks a year.

Thanks for joining in, and thanks for the kind words. I really love Justify, as you can tell. The show has a rather complex structure and it often takes a few episodes for all the pieces to start moving together. This season it kicked into gear around episode four. FWIW, I’ll be posting a piece about this week’s episode later today, and if you follow me on Forbes or on Twitter (@avincent52) you’ll know as soon as it goes up.

Thanks Jeff. Boyd uses language as a weapon, not so much debating as overwhelming his conversational partner with big words and obscure references. Funny, that’s what Rust Cohle on True Detective gets accused of by his partner. Raylan also has a definite pattern of speech, but his tendency is toward the short and sweet, delivered dry with a side of sarcasm.

One of my favorite lines of this episode was during the sequence with Boyd and Daryl. “I’ve been accused of being a lot of things, inarticulate ain’t one of them.” That one made me laugh. Definitely one of my favorite characters ever. I like your comparison to Rust Cohle, too, Allen. Good stuff.